With an HSBC
HBC, +0.04%
"eco-smart" MasterCard, you can opt to donate accumulated points to an environmentally-friendly charity or use them toward eco-friendly items. Already, its Chicago office is powered by wind energy.

Bank of America
BAC, +0.31%
has announced a $20 billion, 10-year environmental initiative and offers a green-themed "brighter planet" credit card. Sovereign Bancorp, based in Philadelphia, embedded wildflower seeds in direct mail solicitations so they could be planted in the ground.

With its "conservation accounts," Bank of the West donates half the monthly service charge to the Nature Conservancy, said Informa Research Services in Calabasas, Calif.

ShoreBank Pacific, in Ilwaco, Wash., offers an "eco-cash" debit card account. It comes with five free checks monthly. Each additional check costs $3, with a portion of the fee going to an environmental organization.

Some financial institutions offer special loans for those purchasing hybrid vehicles, according to Informa Research. Effective interest rates are 0.25% to 1% lower than those of regular car loans.

NACHA, the Electronic Payments Association, has formed an industry group, the PayItGreen Alliance, to educate consumers and businesses about the positive environmental impact of going green. As you might expect, it wants you to choose electronic bills, statements and payments over paper. Source Media sponsored a green banking conference recently.

And Javelin Strategy & Research, in Pleasanton, Calif., which issued a report June 2 on green banking issues, suggests that consumers:

Turn off paper bank statements.

Switch to direct deposit to eliminate paper.

Start using online banking to reduce waste significantly.

Don't take a receipt. Instead, check your accounts online later or immediately note the transaction in your checkbook.

Try mobile banking, such as banking by phone.

The downsides

Many of these efforts definitely are moves in the right direction amid increased concern over global warming, worsening weather and the high price and emissions of gas. Besides saving the environment, green banking can save banks and customers hefty costs in postage, paper and time.

But a credit card, even if it's green, may entice you further into debt.

And some attractive hybrid car loan rates may have interest rate floors, said Informa Research. This could curb your benefit in a falling-interest rate environment.

Also, before turning off your statements, switching to direct deposit and skipping your transaction receipt, consider the repercussions of fraud or an account error.

"The National Consumer Law Center is very much in favor of environmentally friendly banking policies," says Stuart Rossman, the non-profit advocacy group's director of litigation. The problem: Most consumer protection laws were developed in the 1970s or earlier.

"The statutes that existed at that time have never been completely adjusted to go from a paper record-keeping system to electronic record-keeping systems," Rossman said.

In issues of theft, fraud, an error or a skipped direct deposit, you may need to furnish documentation.

Banks may be moving too aggressively to encourage Internet access for an account, said Lauren Saunders, managing attorney in the Washington office of the National Consumer Law Center. This, despite the fact that low-income consumers often lack Internet access.

And Social Security recipients who receive payments via a prepaid card eventually may be forced pay an added cost for paper statements, she said.

It's easy to throw paper receipts in a box and keep them, she says. "Rely on a bank and they easily can say, `Sorry. We only keep them for 12 months.'"

Survey says

Although most consumers expressed an interest in adopting green banking behaviors, three of four still get paper bills and statements, Javelin reported.

"If every U.S. household stopped receiving paper bills and statements," it said, "687,000 tons of paper would be saved every year, enough to circle the Earth 239 times."

The Javelin study, conducted from a random-sample panel of 2,350 respondents, indicated that only 34% of consumers switched to electronic statements to reduce their impact on the environment.

Forty-three percent said they are more likely to do business with companies they perceive to be green. One of five said green initiatives cement the bond they have with their banks.

Sixty percent of the consumers who consider environmental impact as "extremely important" in purchasing and banking decisions are women.

By contrast, 64% of those who say they are "very less likely" to be more loyal to their bank because of its environmental activities are men.

Spouses Gail Liberman and Alan Lavine are syndicated columnists. Their latest book is "Quick Steps to Financial Stability" (Que/Penguin). You can contact them at www.moneycouple.com.

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